Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Blended Math: Place Value Table 1

Example of student's work today.
Today I'll guide 23 students and a number of teachers in a complex-for-fourth grade activity.  I will start the activity by telling students that this will be tedious at first, but in the end they'll learn valuable tech skill and math skill.

These are the steps involved.
  1. Open a Google doc. 
  2. Name the Doc: Place Value Chart 1
  3. Place title on top of doc.
  4. Set the font size and type: 18pt, bold
  5. Make a 2X1 table.
  6. Label the table" Column one: base-ten numeral name, Column two: model.
  7. Type the number 1,234 in base-ten numeral form (standard form) 1,234, number name (word form): one thousand, two hundred thirty-four, and expanded form 1,000+200+30+4 
  8. Open a new window and google, "everyday math etools"
  9. Open the etool site, open base-ten blocks, and make a model for 1,234.
  10. Screen shot (shift-command-4) the model.
  11. Go back to Google doc table, insert and size the image.
  12. Click "insert page break"
  13. Repeat the process three times with three new numbers: 406, 2,091, and 34,678 (note as numbers get bigger, students may need to make two or more screen shots to make the number.)
  14. When students complete all four tables, they should review, print in b/w, show the teacher.
  15. Then if they have time, they can attempt to make a challenge number 2,345,678. Note that they will need multiple screen shots for this and use creativity. 
Learning to make tables is a very effective tech skill--a skill that can be applied to all learning areas and a skill that can help students organize information in useful, memorable ways.

Today's lesson will be tedious as the children will want to jump ahead, but I'll take the time upfront to set the stage for their thoughtful, step-by-step investment. 

Let me know if you have any tips, and if you try the lesson, let me know how it goes.